Talk:The Christmas Invasion (TV story)

Reference?

Under the References section, is the "Alan McKenzieuma]]" reference a typo, or did he just really like satsumas or something? Spreee 05:24, 10 June 2009 (UTC)Spreee

Semi-edit war

This page had been reverted about 10 times over the past day or two, half the time a large amount of the information is completely removed from the article. Can something be done about this at some point along the way? -- sulfur 21:34, December 29, 2009 (UTC)

Real life conspiracy theories

From 1988-1993, all Russian and American probes sent to explore Mars failed.

First, the RSA Phobos 1 lost radio communication on the way to Mars.

Then, the RSA Phobos 2 lost radio communication immediately after aligning its orbit with the moon Phobos and preparing to drop two landers. Some of the last photos from Phobos 2 also showed an oddly-shaped shadow on the surface of Mars.

Finally, the NASA Mars Observer lost radio contact and apparently exploded just before entering orbit.

Needless to say, UFO conspiracy theorists had a field day, insisting that the shadow photographed by Phobos 2 was a cigar-shaped alien craft hiding between Mars and Phobos, which had shot down all three of the probes, and which was also somehow responsible for a number of other failed Mars missions.

Never mind that there are perfectly good explanations for the failure of all three missions; or that plenty of previous and later missions were completely successful; or that most failed missions were canceled, failed at launch, or failed nowhere near Mars. There are still plenty of people who believe this today. For some examples, see [1] or [2], or just do a Google search for dozens more.

I think enough sci-fi buffs are familiar with these conspiracy theories--or at least with the general "Mars Curse," which NASA joking attributes to a Galactic Ghoul--that they were probably an influence on this episode.

Also, when NASA's Mars Global Surveyor temporarily lost contact, it was described as "just a blip" by a NASA spokesman, exactly as BRG's Daniel Llewellyn said of Guenivere. --32.155.182.25 12:49, January 27, 2010 (UTC)